This original action in the Illinois Supreme Court for mandamus comes from Will
County, where Michael W. Drew pled guilty to DUI in 2009. Although the Illinois
Vehicle Code and the Unified Code of Corrections provide that a fourth DUI
conviction is a nonprobational Class 2 felony, Drew, who had three prior DUIs, was
sentenced to only probation, in the amount of 48 months. The State’s Attorney
objected and sought mandamus for sentencing in accordance with these codes.

This driver had argued that as to one of his earlier offenses, in Bureau County in
2000, he had pled guilty without legal counsel and, therefore, this prior conviction
should not be considered for sentence-enhancement purposes. Relying on earlier
decisional authority from the appellate court (which was currently questioned but had
never been expressly overruled), the circuit court agreed with this, rejecting the
arguments to the contrary raised by the state’s attorney.

In the opinion filed today, the Illinois Supreme Court overruled People v. Finley,
209 Ill. App. 3d 968 (1991), upon which the circuit court had relied in making a
disposition of probation as it did. This result is based on the more recent decision of
the United States Supreme Court in Nichols v. United States, 511 U.S. 738 (1994),
which compels the conclusion that a valid uncounseled misdemeanor conviction is
also valid when used to enhance punishment as to a subsequent conviction.

A judgment of mandamus was entered by the Supreme Court directing the trial
judge to sentence defendant in accordance with statute.